


Vampire Lessons

by chimneythunder



Category: McFly, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Crack Relationships, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Deconstruction, Fluff, M/M, pudd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-16
Updated: 2013-09-16
Packaged: 2017-12-26 19:28:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/969437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimneythunder/pseuds/chimneythunder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edward Cullen used to think that his life was a literal type of living Hell. After all, no one could be doomed to repeat high-school for all eternity unless they had done something <i>severely</i> wrong, such as (for one non-specific example) trading in their soul for immortality and eternal youth, beauty and strength. Yes, Edward Cullen was convinced the life he was condemned to was a punishment of sorts...</p>
<p>... Until he met McFly. Then he realised that his time previously had merely been Purgatory; <i>now</i> he was in Hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vampire Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> Written back in 2009 for McFlySlash, I was trying out a new way of writing and combining my two not-at-all-secret guilty pleasures - Twilight and McFly! 
> 
> Initially, I actually found Edward Cullen's POV a complete nightmare to get into, even after multiple-readings of Midnight Sun. Bella isn't in this and she's pretty much his entire focus point - without her, it was hard to figure out exactly what his voice would be without making him entirely unlikable (because, let's face it, once you go past the good looks, you're left with a controlling, judgemental asshole who's attitude before Bella shows up is 'Bwaah petty humans I am so superior to you all in my intellect RAH BUT I AM ALSO A MONSTER AND I HATE MYSELF.') So for this, I tried to write Edward as more apathetic and snarky before he warms up to McFly a bit.
> 
> There's references to Swine Flu a bit in this because when it was written, Swine Flu had just broken out in the UK. 
> 
> And yes. You did read the pairing correctly. No, this isn't crack!fic.

Edward Cullen used to think that his life was a literal type of living Hell. After all, no one could be doomed to repeat high-school for all eternity unless they had done something _severely_ wrong, such as (for one non-specific example) trading in their soul for immortality and eternal youth, beauty and strength. Yes, Edward Cullen was convinced the life he was condemned to was a punishment of sorts...

... Until he met McFly. Then he realised that his time previously had merely been Purgatory; _now_ he was in Hell. 

To begin with, it was arguably all Edward’s fault for the whole ‘sparkling vampire’ craze as it was. Stephenie Meyer had been a nice enough girl at one of Edward’s many high schools – friendly and a bit bland to look at but also quite perceptive, not to mention imaginative. A dangerous combination in the wrong hands and within about a month of Edward transferring to her school, she’d figured out what he and his family were. She promised to keep the secret safe, and her and Edward even tried dating for a few months before it ended badly; she turned out to be jealous and emotionally abusive, not to mention that her behaviour started to border on downright stalking (“Oh, what a coincidence!! You just caught me trying to climb into your bedroom – surprise!!”)

It should not have been that much of a surprise that years after after he dumped her (which was a nightmare in itself – she threatened to kill herself and even hinted that she expected Edward to follow suit, something he firmly did not intend to do) and they’d both gone their separate ways, Stephenie published a book about her and Edward’s time together and how she wished it had ended. 

“Don’t kill her, Edward, she’s done us a favour,” Carlisle had said, with his everlasting display of patience as Edward came storming into the house with a paperback copy of _Twilight_ in his hand. “After all, no one’s going to believe in vampires now – look at the reviews and scorn the book’s getting!”

Edward fumed. In the space a few short years, he had become the laughing stock of the entire vampire community. Far from being angry at him for almost exposing their world, many vampires took Carlisle’s viewpoint that Meyer had made real vampires too ridiculous to be believed. 

Unfortunately, this also had a bad side-effect. “Vampires = cool” had led to an upsurge in the want to become a vampire, particularly amongst teenage girls. The last time Edward had seen it get that bad was when Buffy the Vampire Slayer first came out (which had led to a _lot_ of disappointment on the rare occasions when the wannabes actually became vampires). And of course, with every trend comes people who see how they could make a profit out of it. In this case, there were cases of vampires going to particularly stupid girls and offering to turn them into a “higher form.” The girls thought they meant vampire; the vampires actually meant lunch. 

One rare sunny day in Forks, a few weeks after the Twilight craze had properly taken off, Edward was sitting at his piano in his family’s house in Forks and composing a new piece about the mournful existence he endured when the doorbell rang. 

At first, he ignored it and carried on with his music, assuming someone else would answer the door. The ringing, however, became more and more persistent and Edward suddenly remembered that everyone else in the house was otherwise occupied; Rosalie and Emmett were out in the garage, working on a custom- built Mustang, Carlisle was locked in his study, Esme was upstairs, designing a new house and Alice and Jasper were... probably up a tree somewhere. 

The doorbell rang again. 

Edward sighed heavily and stood up.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he muttered, wondering who would be this far out in the woods. It would probably be another group of fourteen year-old die-hard Twilight fans.

He was half-right. 

He swung the front door open, being careful to remain in the shade of the house and was greeted by the sight of four abnormally pretty and very pale boys standing on the porch, huddled together under the shade of a giant parasol. Instantly, he spotted their vivid red eyes which could only mean one thing - _Newborns._

Before Edward could enquire as to who they were and why they were there, the blond one holding the parasol let out a very excited and high-pitched shriek in perfect tones.

“ _Oh my god, it's Edward Cullen!!_ ”

~*~*~

“So, let me get this straight – you’re a British boy band who’ve all recently become vampires and you want my help in how to live amongst humans?!”

The four newborns, who were sitting comfortably on one of the Cullen’s sofas in the living room, all nodded. 

“Yup, that’s about it,” the one who had screamed earlier said. (Edward had discovered his name was Tom.)

At a loss of what to do, Edward had invited the newborns into the house and told them to wait in the living room whilst he fetched the rest of his family to help him sort out this very odd mess. Everyone had gathered into the living room, where the newborns had introduced themselves as Tom, Danny, Dougie and Harry and explained their sorry tale. 

“It all started a few weeks ago,” Tom explained. “I was in the bookshop in the Twilight section when the shop assistant started talking to me about the books. She said she was a massive fan and asked me if I liked them, and I told her yes, and then she asked me what one was my favourite, and I told her I quite liked Eclipse best because I liked the conflict between Jacob and Edward and then she asked me who was my favourite character and I –”

“Tom, the shortened edition would be appreciated here,” Edward quickly interrupted. 

“Why? It’s not like time’s exactly of the essence,” the one called Harry said, raising an eyebrow. 

Edward ignored him and gave Tom a look, signalling for him to continue. 

“OK, well, anyway, the thing about the assistant was that she was well fit, you know? It’s hard to describe –”

“Pale, unnatural beauty and bags under the eyes?” Harry muttered sarcastically. The smallest one - Dougie - giggled appreciatively as Edward glared at Harry. He was really starting to dislike him. 

Tom continued with his story. 

“- And then, after we’d been chatting for a bit, she told me she had the full copy of Midnight Sun in the back room –”

This time, it was Carlisle who interrupted, holding up a hand apologetically.

“Sorry, Midnight Sun?” 

Edward looked at his family, who all looked completely confused. Alice had her usual far-away look in her eyes as she skimmed into the future. Edward listened in on what she was seeing but it was nothing of great interest – for some reason, the future was extremely undecided. Images flashed by rapidly of no major importance. Danny in a pub... Tom with a guitar... Edward at his piano... Harry pinning someone small and blond against a wall and kissing them... 

“It’s meant to be the next book in the series,” Tom explained hastily. “It’s Twilight retold, but from Edward’s point of view.”

“What?!” Edward yelped, standing up suddenly. “When was this announced?!”

“Dear, calm down,” Esme smiled, placing a reassuring hand on Edward’s arm. “Don’t get upset.”

“It’s quite a good story actually,” Harry said, smirking at Edward. “Your point of view isn’t as simpering or irritating as Bella’s.”

Just as Edward’s dislike of Harry was going down slightly, an angry, high-pitched voice’s thoughts rang through his mind.

_Bastard! Why’s he flirting with Edward?!!_

Who was that? His eyes scanned the four of McFly – ah! Little Dougie was frowning as he looked from Edward to Harry. Edward remembered Alice’s premonition of Harry and suddenly understood. So the bassist and drummer were in a relationship? That was unconventional. 

All of this thought process took less than a second. Danny, who had been silent up till now, nudged Tom in the side. 

“Go on, mate,” he said. He had a Northern accent, Edward noted. 

Tom cleared his throat. “OK, so I went into the back room and it was really dark in there, properly dark! I couldn’t see anything and then the girl said in this really low voice ‘Do you want to be part of Twilight, Tom?’ I thought she meant the film, like she knew the director or something, so I said yes. ‘Would you be prepared to give up everything, Tom?’ she asked, and I said yes... and then I felt her bite me in the neck.”

There was a dramatic pause. The room was silent but everyone’s thoughts were screaming at once in Edward’s head.

_What a douche!! Can’t believe he fell for that!!_  
The poor boy! He must have been so scared...  
I wonder if I left the engine on?  
I wonder how all four of them became vampires though?  
Huh. I didn’t know that much. He just said she bit him...  
Ah bugger. I didn’t tell the guys that much before.  
Why’s Harry still looking at Edward?! Why’s he not looking at ME?! 

Edward gave his head a little shake to try and clear it. There was one voice he hadn’t heard from; Alice was unusually quiet, focusing more intently on the future. Something was becoming clearer – his own face, smiling at someone like they were the most important person in the world...

“So,” Edward prompted, more to break the outward silence than anything, “What happened next?”

“Well, I went home feeling a bit funny –”

“We all thought he had Swine Flu or something,” Danny put in. 

Tom grinned at Danny. “Not quite! But yeah, three days later –”

“Hang on,” Emmett suddenly said, sounding incredulous. “How could you mistake the agonising screams of crippling pain for ‘swine flu’?!”

“Well, it’s Danny,” Tom said, as if that was a suitable explanation. 

“And anyway, he wasn’t actually screaming,” Harry added. “He just started burning up and spent most the time whimpering.”

“To be fair, it did feel more like I had the flu,” Tom admitted. “The transformation was _nothing_ like how it was described in the books.”

“Same,” Harry said. “I just felt a bit run-down.”

“Me too,” Danny said.

“Me three,” Dougie said. (His first outward verbal contribution since he’d stepped into the house.)

The Cullen children all looked swiftly at Carlisle, who suddenly looked sheepish. 

“I probably should have told you,” he said slowly, “But a vampire’s diet affects their venom. I’ve found that vampire’s created from blood-drinkers have a much-less painful transformation.”

Outwardly, Rosalie shrieked " _What?!_ " Inside Edward's head, the thoughts he was hearing were less polite. 

Carlisle suddenly seemed very interested in Tom. “So how did the rest of the band react to your transformation? Did you attack them?”

Dougie, Harry and Danny all laughed. 

“Tom, attack?! He’s about as deadly as a kitten,” Harry snorted. 

“So what happened then?” Jasper asked. He’d been standing by the wall at the back of the room when the conversation had started, but now, he’d moved forward into the room, involving himself more. Edward half-smiled to himself. Jasper could pretend to be as aloof as he wanted but he could never resist a good story. 

“Well, once I realised what had happened to me, I tried to keep it a secret from the others,” Tom explained. “I ordered brown contact lenses off the internet and started drinking pig’s blood, which I bought from the butchers – hey, I figured if it worked in Buffy...”

Tom bit his lip, slightly unsure of how to continue. He looked at his bandmates – Harry was staring at his feet, Dougie was looking at Harry and Danny... Danny wasn’t even paying attention. He was day-dreaming as he stared at the wall, dreaming of getting a bottle of Peroni with his sister. 

“Harry was the first to notice. He... he’d seen that I’d changed how I looked and he...”

_Was completely jealous that he wasn’t the prettiest in the band anymore,_ Tom thought. 

Edward burst out laughing, causing everyone in the room to stare at him. Tom suddenly looked alarmed and if his heart was still beating blood around his body, his face would probably have turned bright red. 

_Oh God, I forgot!! You can read minds!!_ Tom thought, sounding panicked. 

Edward nodded quickly once in response. 

“‘And he...’” he prompted, trying to save the situation. 

“And... well, Harry caught me out,” Tom said, sounding flustered. “He came bounding into my room one morning when I was pretending to be asleep and threw open the curtains.”

“I haven’t laughed so much in ages,” Harry said. 

The Cullen’s frowned in confusion.

“I’d already read Twilight,” Harry explained. 

“But... didn’t you think it was a bit... well... odd?” Carlisle asked. 

Edward nodded in agreement. “To say the least. Your bandmate suddenly starts – I mean, the point of our skin is to captivate our prey –”

“Hypnotise them by the beauty of it,” Rosalie added.

“Exactly! How could you just _laugh_?!” Edward finished.

McFly stared at the Cullen’s. For what seemed like an age, even to vampires, there was silence.

Eventually, Harry broke it.

“Dude. We _sparkle_ in the sunlight. How could you not laugh?”

The Cullen’s looked at each other. These four boys were young. Their outlook on the world was not fully matured. Even Edward was confused. How could these four treat vampirism so... light-hearted?! As if it wasn’t something horrific and monstrous, as if it was all a joke? Clearly, the seriousness of the situation could not have hit them yet. 

“We have much to learn from each other,” Carlisle murmured as Edward nodded in agreement.

“So what happened?!” Emmett asked impatiently. Edward had lost count of the amount of times someone had had to prompt the story. 

Harry laughed, shooting a look at Tom who was also smiling. 

“Well, as soon as he started sparkling, the jig was up,” Harry explained. 

“And worse still, Danny and Dougie heard Hazza’s rather distinctive laughter echo through the house,” Tom added.

“Think ‘hysterical eight-year old girl’ meets ‘cackling witch,’” Dougie put in helpfully. (Harry shot a filthy look at him which the youngest boy cheerfully ignored.)

“So we all came to see what was going on!” Danny finished.

“Do you always do that?” Jasper asked. 

“Do what?” all four of McFly said in unison.

“That! Talking together, finishing each others sentences?” Jasper explained, looking rather unnerved. The only person they knew who could finish your sentences was Alice and her excuse was that she could see the future. Did this mean that all four of McFly could do it too, or at the very least, see each others futures?

Tom chuckled. “Nah, just a sign we’ve spent too much time together! Anyway, once all the guys saw that I... well... you know... we sat down together and had a long chat about what we were going to do. Harry immediately wanted to be a vampire because he... err...”

“He didn’t like the fact that Tom was prettier than him!” Dougie said, causing everyone in the room (except for Harry) to laugh. 

“And Dougie didn’t want his boyfr- err, best friend to be a vampire without him, so I had to bite him,” Tom said with a shrug, “And Danny, he’s never read Twilight, but he didn’t want to be left out, so... well. Yeah.” 

There was a small silence as Tom finally finished his tale. Edward looked at his family, completely dumbstruck. Carlisle had an oddly puzzled expression on his face – his thoughts were confused as he tried to absorb what he’d just been told. The rest of the Cullen’s thoughts were equally as confused.

_How could they all do that?! WHY would they do that?!_  
That’s quite adorable... sticking together throughout everything.  
How commendable that Tom didn’t simply kill them all in one go...  
That Harry’s not a patch on me... I’m still more beautiful... 

Well. Most of them.

“That’s extremely commendable,” Carlisle said. (One of the downsides of hearing people’s thoughts was that you often ended up hearing things twice.) “Tom, I’ve got a few questions for you though – how did you manage to find the strength not to simply kill your bandmates?”

Tom shrugged. “I dunno... I guess -”

_Edward._

Edward looked up. Alice was thinking his name, calling him. 

_I can see their future’s a lot more clearly now. I don’t know what they’re going to ask, but you’re going to go with them when they leave._

Edward’s eyes widened. No one noticed – the conversation in the room continued. He looked at his sister, one eyebrow raised, asking.

_England. That’s where you’re going. And... be careful._

An image flashed through Alice’s mind – someone smashing a guitar over his head. What on earth?!

_Your presence with them... one of them isn’t going to like it._

And then, another voice in his head suddenly got his attention.

_Oh my God, Edward must be talking to Alice telepathically! Like he does in Midnight Sun! That’s so exciting! I wonder what she’s showing him?_

Edward frowned. Tom knew far too much for his own good. 

“Why are you four here?” Edward asked abruptly, interrupting one of Carlisle’s questions. “Why did you track us down?”

Danny shrugged. “We figured you’d be the person to help us out.”

“You see,” Tom explained, “we want to be able to continue our everyday lives. Being in a band’s quite fun but also there might be a bit of a hassle if we all suddenly disappear - people are going to notice and they're going to care enough to try and find us.” All of McFly nodded in agreement with this.

Emmett laughed. "Surely your fans would just move onto the next teenie-bopper fad?" 

Tom frowned, irritated. "Well, _no_. Our fans are a lot more loyal than that... but I was more referring to our record company and management... you know, the people who are making money off us. Anyway, we thought you would be the best person to teach us how to be... ‘vegetarians.’”

Edward winced. This was what Alice had seen. Rosalie, bored with the conversation now, sauntered out the room, back to the garage. 

“So, let me get this straight,” Edward said, watching his sister stalk out the room, “You’re a British boy band who’ve all recently become vampires and you want my help in how to live amongst humans?!” 

McFly, who were sitting comfortably on one of the Cullen’s sofas, all nodded. 

“Yup, that’s about it,” Tom said.

And then, just as Edward was about to sigh heavily and say that he’d agree to go, Alice suddenly cheerfully said, much to everyone's complete surprise, “Jasper’s going too!”

~*~*~

Edward was no stranger to challenges. In fact, he often welcomed the idea of one (provided it was one he could do) – it broke up the monotony of his everyday life. He was often quite good at challenges too; afterall, he’d trained himself to go against his very nature and resist the lure of human blood. Edward used to think that since he’d managed that, he could do anything.

However, even Edward Cullen was having doubts over the success of his McFly project, starting ten minutes into the journey to England. McFly had stayed in Forks for one more day, waiting for the sun to pass; whilst the band were happy enough to stand under parasols, Edward and Jasper preferred not to push their luck. It was only as they were getting into Esme’s people carrier it suddenly occurred to Edward that they would be in close proximity to humans on the flight. This would be easy enough for Edward and even Jasper to deal with, but what about the band? Newborns were notorious for being slaves to their thirst; what if one of them slipped and attacked someone? A complete frenzy would begin and even Edward wasn’t sure if he was strong enough to not join in. And what about a newborn’s intense strength? Two mature vampires could take down one newborn, but against four? 

Four newborns and a plane full of unsuspecting humans. It was a disaster waiting to happen. 

“We got here without any mass murders, didn’t we?” Harry said dryly. The six of them were in the car on their way to the airport, with Carlisle driving and Alice in the back as well, sandwiched between Jasper and Dougie. 

Hmm. Edward was going to have to get used to the sarcasm. 

“Actually, that was something else I was wondering about,” Carlisle said, “How did you four manage to travel and withhold your thirst the whole time?”

Alice’s eyes glazed over and she laughed, alarming Dougie.

“Oh, fantastic!” she said, smiling widely. “You’re going to love it!” 

Edward quickly dipped into her mind but she was already thinking of something else (ducks); clearly, she didn’t want to spoil the surprise. 

“It was all Dougie’s idea,” Tom explained. “He figured that if we couldn’t smell the humans, we wouldn’t be as tempted, so we had nose plugs on the whole time!”

Jasper frowned. “Wouldn’t that draw attention to you?” 

“Not really. We were also wearing these –” Harry said, pulling out a white surgical mask from his pocket. As he pulled it out, the car was suddenly filled with the sweet scene of perfume, something heightened vampire senses picked up on twice as easily as humans. 

“How would that make you blend in any more than nose plugs?!” Edward asked Dougie, scrunching up his nose from the smell.

Dougie smirked and tapped his head, deliberately thinking _Nyah-nyah!_

Infuriating child!

“Think about it,” Harry said. “What’s got everyone more scared right now than anything else?”

Carlisle got it. “Ahh, swine flu. Clever.” 

Dougie turned to Harry and stuck his tongue out triumphantly. 

“See, Juddy?! They think I’m clever!!” 

“Only in a world where vampires are real and we’re suddenly immortal and sparkly could you be considered clever...”

Edward looked back in the car from his position in the passenger seat. Tom was reading a well-thumbed copy of _Twilight_ , Dougie and Harry only had eyes for each other, Alice was holding Jasper’s hand with her thumb stroking rhythmically over it, Carlisle was busy driving and Danny... Danny was staring out the window, his brilliant red eyes unfocused on the scenery. His thoughts were occupied with images of his family; his mum, his sister, his grandparents. There was an unmistakable tone of sadness to his thoughts.

He wanted to tell Danny that it would get easier. He wanted to tell Danny that eventually, everyone you knew in your human life was gone. He wanted to tell him that in time, his human memories would fade. Edward hardly remembered his real mother now. He couldn’t even remember her face, just her eyes; green. He hardly even remembered now that his own eyes used to be green. Vampire memories became the strongest and your time as a human became a distant blur. 

Danny sighed and absently chewed on a nail, thinking morosely of his home in Bolton. 

No. Now was not the time to say such things. Not in a car full of people. Not when everyone else was so excited about the future.

~*~*~

“It’s so grey!” were Jasper’s first words upon entering England.

Even Danny snapped out of his funk long enough to laugh. 

The flight home had been uneventful enough. Tom, Danny and Harry had worn their masks throughout without any bother. Dougie, on the other hand, seemed completely unphased by things and sat through the flight with his face free (all of McFly were wearing coloured contact lenses to hide their vividly red irises). He even went so far as to chat happily to some teenage girls who’d found out their idols were on the flight. 

“How does he do that?!” Jasper asked in confusion. Edward didn’t need to hear his thoughts, he could hear the irritation in Jasper’s voice alone. Jasper had never enjoyed feeling weak and his struggle with the Cullen’s diet was one that never seemed to go away. Edward could understand why Alice had sent Jasper along. She must have thought it would benefit his self-esteem being around newborns struggling even more than he was. 

“Don’t take it too hard. Dougie’s always been a bit... yee... _unconventional_. Trust him to be the same in this life,” Tom explained. 

Jasper had spent the rest of the flight sulking. The first words he uttered were the ones when he stepped off the plane, and they seemed to come out in total shock. Edward had laughed along with the others but even he felt slightly surprised by England; like Jasper, he’d never been. Certainly, he’d been curious but he’d always managed to find excuses and reasons not to go. He’d always told himself if he went to England, he’d immediately draw too much attention to himself simply by his accent alone. 

The truth was that he'd actually never been bothered. Edward found his life so boring that he’d reached a level of lethargy and disinterest with everything. Jasper, on the other hand, had never been to England because the opportunity had never arisen. He’d spent the early years of his life in South America and then moved up North when he found Alice. 

Edward had laughed at Jasper’s outburst but secretly, he was thrilled. England looked exactly as he’d pictured; overcast and raining. It was perfect.

~*~*~

The next day, Edward and Jasper agreed to meet McFly at the Hammersmith Apollo. The boys had a tour coming up and needed to practice on the stage with the tech and lighting, so they’d asked the record company to hire it out as a rehearsal room.

However, the venue had another use – McFly were less likely to be disturbed in their ‘vampire lessons’ as they were the only people in the building, aside from the caretaker who unlocked the door when they came in and locked up in the evening when they left. (They'd told their crew rehearsals started a week later than the date the venue was booked.)

Edward would give McFly one thing; they were very loud. Even outside the building and without their extra strong vampire hearing, they could still have heard the guitars and singing. Walking inside, the music got progressively louder as Edward and Jasper walked through the dark corridors. 

“Why on earth would they design a music venue this way?!” Edward muttered angrily as they finally found the right door that took them into the main area. McFly were already on the stage, though they didn’t stop playing when they saw their guests arrive. Instead, they continued the song; something about how they could have fallen in love, which was harmless enough, Edward supposed. 

“Ey-oop!” Danny said cheerfully once they’d finished. Slinging his guitar around so it hung off his back, he gracefully jumped off the edge of the stage and ran towards Edward and Jasper through the audience area. Edward noticed there were no seats set up. 

“Glad to see you guys made it!” Danny said, beaming a lopsided grin. “Tom was worried you wouldn’t show up!”

“Shut up!” Tom yelled through his microphone, his voice echoing around. Danny responded by flipping him off. Edward chuckled.

“You four have the most dysfunctional relationship I’ve seen in a long time,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief as Jasper ran up the stage. “By the way... how are you feeling today?”

Danny grinned, as if the question was obvious. “I’m fine! Why –”

“You were a bit sad yesterday, that’s all.” 

Danny suddenly looked at the floor and said nothing. For some reason, he had the image of Bruce Springsteen in his head, performing to an endless sea of cheering fans. 

“I never saw the appeal of Springsteen,” Edward said as they approached the stage. Jasper was already up there, an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulders casually as he joined in with random tunes Tom was playing on a piano. It was then that Edward realised Harry and Dougie were nowhere to be seen. 

“How could you not?!” Danny asked incredulously. “He’s epic! He’s a legend!! They don’t call him ‘The Boss’ for nothing!”

“Yeeeees... but it always seems to be the same thing he sung about, songs about home and staying with your girl!” 

Danny shook his head, laughing. “You’ve missed the point!”

He paused and his smile suddenly slipped.

“How did you know that’s what I was thinking of?”

“Didn’t you know?” Edward asked. “I assumed Tom would have told you - I can hear people’s thoughts.” 

Danny looked horrified.

“Your mind’s quite interesting though,” Edward added hastily. “I don’t get words with you, just images and music.” 

“Really?” Danny stopped walking, looking interested. “That’s... don’t you normally get that?”

“Nope. Just words, normally,” Edward explained. “I wonder why you’re different?”

“I wonder...” Danny murmured, vaulting gracefully up onto the stage with one hand. 

“You know, if you’d tried doing that two weeks ago, you would have tripped over your guitar and landed flat on your face,” Tom remarked, playing some appropriate chords.

Jasper laughed, strumming along on his guitar. “It’s no use trying to talk to Edward about any kind of music unless it’s from the 50’s, classical or Muse.” 

Danny visibly shuddered. 

“What’s wrong with Muse?!” Edward asked.

“Nothing!! It’s just... I’m going to have to get used to the whole ‘lack of privacy’ thing, aren’t I?” Danny sighed heavily. 

Edward hoisted himself up onto the stage. 

“You get used to it pretty quickly,” Jasper answered. “It’s a nightmare in our house sometimes – you can’t surprise anyone or keep anything secret. Either Edward will hear you or Alice will see it coming.”

“Or you’ll feel the mood’s changed,” Edward pointed out. 

“And you say we’re dysfunctional,” Tom muttered. 

“Where’s Dougie and Harry anyway?” Edward asked, looking at the empty drumkit.

“Give ‘em two minutes,” Danny said, sitting down on one of the amps. 

“And for the love of God, _don't_ go looking for them!” Tom added. “I swear, since we changed, they’ve been at it like rabbits.”

~*~*~

When Dougie and Harry returned 20 minutes later with their hair messed up and Dougie’s t-shirt torn, Edward and Tom had already started a piano-war. What had started out as a joke with Tom playing ‘duelling banjos’ turned into an epic piano duet play-off. Much to Edward’s complete surprise, Tom turned out to be an exceptional pianist and at the same level as Edward himself.

“How’s that possible?!” he asked.

“What?”

“How can you be as good as me?” Edward asked, completely confused. “I’ve been playing far longer than you!” 

“Tom never used to be that good,” Harry remarked, sitting behind his drum-kit with Dougie nuzzling next to him. “He was good, but not amazing. It’s only since he got all Vampire-y that he’s suddenly become incredible.”

Dougie giggled and kissed Harry’s cheek. 

_You learn to ignore them,_ a voice suddenly sounded in Edward’s head. He looked up to see Danny looking at him pointedly. 

Ahh, so he could hear what Danny was thinking... but only when Danny was directly thinking it. Hmm. That was interesting. 

“Maybe that’s what you brought forward?” Jasper suggested, looking thoughtful. He was sitting on a pile of soft guitar bags and leaning against one of the amps, looking completely relaxed with a guitar in his lap as he idly strummed it. Edward noticed Jasper was wearing his cowboy boots; all he needed was the hat and campfire and he’d look like he’d just escaped from a western. “We all bring forward our most prominent traits from our human lives – Tom’s could be his musical talents.” 

“Cool!!” Danny said. “I wonder what I brought?” 

“Alcoholism,” Harry muttered, which set Dougie off laughing again. Even Tom’s lips twitched slightly, even though he tried to hide it. 

“Get fucked, Judd,” Danny growled, his red eyes narrowing. 

Edward and Jasper shot alarmed looks at each other. This wouldn’t be pretty.

“Just did,” Harry shot back with a smirk. “You just wish –”

They never found out what Harry thought he wished. Danny suddenly launched himself at Harry with a feral growl, crashing through the drum-kit and pinning the drummer to the floor as Dougie went flying out the way (Harry had thrown him as soon as Danny dived). Harry fought back, the two rolling around, throwing angry punches at each other that were leaving massive holes in the floorboards whenever they missed.

“We... we should stop them,” Tom said feebly. 

“Best not,” Edward advised. “You’ll end up with your head torn off. Literally. Best thing to do is get the instruments out the way. Lesson one of being a vampire: the mood swings are horrific, particularly for the first few years.”

“Lesson two,” Jasper added, ducking out the way as Harry’s ear went sailing past him. “It’s no point in punching another vampire – they’ll dodge it and if you do hit them, it won’t hurt anyway. Your teeth are your best weapon – as Danny’s apparently found out.” 

“Can someone get me down from here?!?!” Dougie suddenly shrieked. 

Edward, Jasper and Tom all looked up (Harry and Danny were still fighting, oblivious to everything). Hanging on for dear life from the lighting rigging was a very tiny, blond vampire, his legs kicking the air frantically. 

Edward considered yelling to Dougie that he’d be best letting go, as he’d land on his feet anyway, but then decided against it. There were some things you had to learn from personal experience.

~*~*~

“It’s not going to get any easier, is it?”

Those were the first words Danny said to Edward once they got outside. When Tom and Jasper finally managed to pry Danny off Harry (and Dougie had plucked up the courage to let go of the lighting rigging), Edward offered to take Danny outside for some fresh air whilst Jasper, Tom and Dougie put Harry back together again. Edward had spied a door to the roof and so, had dragged Danny upwards and outwards.

Much to Edward’s complete annoyance, he discovered the roof was the least isolated place they could have gone as the raised motorway that led into central London went straight past it. People were constantly honking at them, something both vampires ignored. 

“Give me a forest any day,” Edward muttered. 

“It’s not, is it?” Danny asked again. 

“What’s not?” 

“Being a vampire. It’s always like this, isn’t it?” 

“Not really – you’ll eventually learn to control your emotions and once you’ve managed your thirst-”

“That’s not what I meant. I don’t ... I don’t feel like me anymore.” Danny sighed and stared into the overcast sky. 

“You’re still who you were before,” Edward said. “Nothing’s changed that. Your personality is still who you were before you changed.” 

“But it’s not – before, I would have been pissed at Harry and we’d have yelled at each other and that’d be it! I’d never _attack_ him like I did then.” 

Danny’s thoughts were swirling, mostly flashes of the fight. He sat down heavily on the edge of the building, idly chipping off the edges of the stone with his fingertips. 

“I won’t get used to this strength either.”

“You do. Eventually, you do.” 

“I don’t look like me anymore either though! How am I still me if I look different and act different?!” 

Edward was silent for a few minutes. Really, what could he say? 

“And,” Danny said softly, “What about my mum? My family? What am I going to do about them?”

“You can’t see them,” Edward said instantly. “It’s too dangerous. The Volturi might not exist in real life, but the rules they governed do – you can’t mix your human family in with this world.” 

“But I’m supposed to go around in a band?!” Danny snapped. He sighed. “I... I just don’t think Tom’s idea is going to work. It’s a nice idea... but it’s too dangerous. If I lost control, even for a moment, in an arena filled with fans...” He shuddered. “And not just that, but we all _look_ different! People are going to notice something’s up! My life’s pretty much over! I’m never going to be able to get back on stage, I’m never going to be able to keep doing this-”

Danny was thinking of Bruce Springsteen again and suddenly Edward understood. Danny’s dream was to be able to play his guitar to an audience for the rest of his life and now, he couldn’t. He couldn’t age and he was a danger to his fans. Everything was over. 

Edward sat down next to Danny, sticking his legs over the edge of the building. It was funny; years later and he still felt uneasy around heights even though he knew he had nothing to fear. 

“Maybe Tom’s plan won’t work immediately – Really, no one in their right mind would recommend you four throwing yourselves back into gigging. Like you said, it’s too dangerous. But...”

Danny looked at Edward.

“But?” he asked.

“Well... you could get McFly to take a year out. Say you’re working on a new album. That’d give you time to learn to adjust,” Edward said gently. “Then, ease back into things – I don’t know how your lives work, but I’m assuming it’s all photoshoots and interviews? Then do a few small gigs. See how it all goes.”

Danny sniffed and looked back out on the M4. Some girls in a car were driving past, waving furiously and honking. Danny feebly waved back, nodding his head. 

“I keep wanting to cry and I can’t,” Danny said eventually. 

“The depression’s the worst part,” Edward admitted. “When I first changed... I hated my life. I wished Carlisle had let me die.” 

“Carlisle was the one who bit you?” Danny asked. 

Edward laughed, finally meeting Danny’s eyes, gold meeting red. “I keep forgetting you haven’t read the books.”

Danny smiled. “I keep meaning to –”

“No, don’t. I... I quite like it. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who doesn’t immediately assume they know everything about me.”

For a few seconds, Edward and Danny remained looking at each other, smiling with the wind lightly messing up their hair and the cars going past continually honking.

Edward suddenly had the image in his head of him reaching forward and pressing his lips against Danny’s. Was that in his own mind or Danny’s?! Abruptly, both vampires realised they were gazing into each other’s eyes – were they leaning in?! - and jumped back quickly.

“So, Carlisle changed you?” Danny asked, looking firmly at his feet, dangling over the edge of the roof. 

“No – I mean, yes! He was the one who bit me – biter, I suppose you’d say –”

Edward stopped himself. What on earth was wrong with him!? 

He took a calming breath. “Carlisle found me when I was 17, dying of Spanish Influenza in 1918. He’d been alone for so long and was desperate for some company and so... he chose me. For a while, I... I hated everything about what I was, what I’d become. I couldn’t understand why he’d forced me into this life, only for have me deny my nature.” 

There was another pause. Edward forced himself to meet Danny’s eyes again.

“You’re not weak if you can’t do it. This choice – to drink animal blood, to not hunt humans – it’s not natural. It’s the same as trying to go up an escalator going down; eventually, you’ll get there but you’re going against the way things should be.” 

Danny looked at Edward, as if he was searching in his eyes for something. Whatever it was, he found it – he smiled and nodded.

“Thanks, mate.”

The wind blew and suddenly, Edward realised the clouds were shifting. He could see the sun was setting and a few rays were already starting to poke out from behind the clouds.

“We should go inside,” he said, standing up and holding a hand out to Danny. “We’re a bit too exposed here.” 

Danny looked at Edward’s hand, then smiled and took it.

~*~*~

Very rarely was Edward caught off guard. Normally, his planning was so detailed that nothing went amiss. However, it wasn’t until Edward’s second day with McFly that he realised he’d overseen a rather important part of the vegetarian vampire lifestyle.

There were no forests in London. 

“ _What are we gonna do?!_ ” Dougie screamed as soon as Edward had dropped the bombshell. “ _We're gonna starve to death!!_ "

All four of McFly, plus Edward and Jasper, were sitting in the kitchen of McFly’s shared house around the kitchen table at the time. Tom had been re-reading _New Moon_ , Dougie and Harry had been engaging in their usual displays of affection and Danny had been drinking a mug of coffee. Harry may have meant it as a joke but one of the strangest things about Danny’s transformation was that he still seemed able to drink any kind of liquid normally and be able to digest it. 

“We are NOT going to starve,” Harry said firmly, then a thought occurred to him. “Can a vampire starve to death?”

“I’ve never seen it happen,” Jasper said with a shrug. 

“I don’t think we can die from starvation,” Edward said thoughtfully. “I know Carlisle went for several months without feeding when he first transformed.”

“Didn’t he nearly go crazy in the process?” Tom asked. 

Edward shot a glare at the guitarist that clearly said ‘shut up.’

“It’s no big deal – Tom, didn’t you survive on drinking pig’s blood for a bit?” Danny asked, taking a mouthful of coffee. Since he’d become a vampire, he’d taken to having his coffee extra strong, made with about ten spoonfuls of coffee granules. Danny smiled into his mug as he remembered the time he’d drunk a coffee that strong when he was 9 years-old as a dare from his sister; he’d been rushed to A&E with an irregular and terrifyingly rapid heartbeat. 

Edward bit back a smile. He felt a bit guilty eavesdropping on Danny’s thoughts and he wasn’t sure why. He was used to hearing every single intimate thought of his family and those around him; why should Danny be any different? His nostrils twitched as he inhaled the scent of coffee, the scent warm and familiar. 

Tom nodded. “Yeah. It didn’t taste very nice but it worked OK. I think I’ve still got a few bags left in the fridge...”

“See? You’re not going to starve,” Harry said, smiling at Dougie reassuringly. 

“I still feel I should teach you how to hunt,” Edward said. “You’ll inevitably end up needing to do it at some time.”

The arrangement was eventually set. They would travel up the nearest forest and Edward and Jasper would take it in turns to take out individual members of McFly, drawing straws to see who got who.

Much to Edward’s dismay, he ended up with Harry and Tom. While Jasper took Dougie, Edward first took Harry out. 

“What’s the local cuisine?” Harry asked with an eyebrow raised as they were standing in the middle of a forest clearing. It was another over-cast day with light mist filling the air around. 

Edward mentally groaned; it looked like a scene out of _Twilight_. 

“Deer. If you’re lucky.” 

Harry wrinkled his nose. “I think I preferred drinking pig’s blood out a mug.” 

“You need to learn how to hunt – you may not always be in England, let alone London,” Edward replied curtly. “Now, close your eyes and tell me what you feel.”

Harry sighed heavily, but complied. His hands were still firmly placed on his hips and his stiff body posture shouted out the fact that he felt this whole exercise was a waste of time. 

“Relax,” Edward said, wrapping his long fingers around Harry’s cold wrists and gently placing them by the drummer’s sides. “You’re too tense.” 

Harry snorted and opened his eyes. 

“That’s exactly what Dougie said the first time he kissed me.”

Edward abruptly let go of Harry’s wrists as if he’d be burnt.

“How long have you two been together anyway?” he asked, trying to subtly emphasise on why Harry should _not_ be flirting with him. 

“Six years. We got together pretty much when we met and we’ve been on and off ever since.” Harry paused and smirked. “Currently, we’re very much on.” 

“I’d never have guessed,” Edward muttered. 

“It’s a very... _relaxed_ relationship though.”

If Edward’s heart had still been beating, he was sure he would have felt it stop at that point. 

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Harry laughed. “Oh, come on Cullen!! Don’t tell me you haven’t considered it.”

“Quite honestly, I can say I haven’t.” 

Harry’s red eyes narrowed in curiosity. “Not with me? Not with Tom? Not with... Danny?”

“I have no idea what you’re on about,” Edward said curtly. “Now, enough side-tracking! Focus!!”

The younger vampire snorted. “Sure, whatever. I’ll tell you what though – Dougie’s absolutely fuming with jealousy at the moment. He thinks I’m after you.”

“You _are_ after me - mores the pity for me.” 

“Only out of sheer curiosity – I want to see what the legendary Edward Cullen’s really like.” 

“Men!” Edward snorted. “All the same through all the ages!! Do yourself a favour and stay with Dougie; believe me, a spurned newborn’s wrath is something no one wants to experience.”

He paused.

“I’ve never had any complaints though,” he added as a careless afterthought. “Now, shall we hunt?”

_Take that, Judd!!_ Edward thought triumphantly as he saw the expression on Harry’s face. Two could play at this horribly twisted and so very wrong game. Edward knew it was a mistake to indulge and yet he couldn’t resist. 

“Close your eyes again,” he instructed. 

Harry’s eyelids snapped shut.

“Now, I want you to empty your mind. Focus only on your surroundings, use your senses to tell you everything about them. What do they say?”

Harry frowned in concentration. “I... there’s a stream nearby. Behind that hill.”

“Good. And?”

“And... there’s a group of something small over in the other direction...”

“A group of what?”

Harry took deep breath, tasting and smelling the air. 

“Rabbits,” he said decisively. 

“Very good. Rabbits will do as an appetiser but can you smell the main course?”

Harry smelled the air again, his eyes still shut. 

“No,” he said, sounding irritated. 

“Well, can you hear it?”

Edward could. He could hear the heartbeat of a group of deer less than a mile away from them. 

And then-

It happened very quickly. Suddenly, Edward realised that there was another sound; the sound of hiking humans. Humans that were completely unaware of the danger two miles from them. 

Harry’s red eyes suddenly opened, gleaming red. He grinned. All trace of humanity was gone from his face and the drummer succumbed to fully becoming the monster that he really was. 

“No!” Edward yelled, but it was too late; Harry had turned and started running full-speed. Edward took up the chase. Granted, Edward was faster than Harry but newborns had immense strength. How was he going to fight him off? 

Edward ignored the nagging thoughts in his head and acted on impulse. He’d caught up with Harry and did the first thing that came to his mind. He leapt at Harry’s back, and then both vampires were crashing to the ground, skidding across the forest floor, sending dirt and leaves flying everywhere, and slamming into an old oak tree with enough force to snap the trunk in two. 

Harry was immediately already trying to get back on his feet, to chase down his meal – the humans were near enough for Edward to smell them and they _did_ smell good – but Edward reached up and grabbed the drummer’s shoulder and neck, rolling them over so that he’d pinned Harry to the ground. The drummer hissed angrily, his hands clawing at the air to his sides.

“Calm down!!” Edward snarled, tightening his grip on Harry’s neck. It wouldn’t kill him but it would hopefully restrain him enough. 

Suddenly, Harry’s eyes focused on Edward. 

“Make me,” he growled in a tone that wasn’t entirely unfriendly. 

It happened far too fast for Edward's liking. Harry’s hands were suddenly no longer gripping the air but one was on Edward’s shoulder and the other on his waist. It wasn’t until Edward felt the ground slam into his back that he realised their positions had been switched so that Harry was straddling him as the one holding him down far more effectively than Edward had. 

“Don’t –” Edward gasped. “Don’t hurt them. Hold onto to your mind – we need to get out of here.”

“Shut up,” Harry said in a low voice with a devilish smirk on his face. “Who said I was ever after them?” 

And it was then that Edward realised – far, _far_ too late – that he’d fallen into a rather unfortunate trap. He noticeably gulped, suddenly all the more aware of how Harry’s icy hand was on his hip, his thumb tracing the bare skin in hypnotic patterns and swirls where Edward’s shirt had shifted. 

“You – you – you –”

Harry chuckled. “You’re so cute when you’re flustered.”

His hand was suddenly a blur over Edward’s chest and the older vampire’s shirt was then open, the beige material sliding down across his marble chest and revealing the hard skin, heaving up and down with every unnecessary breath Edward took. 

This hunting trip was not going at _all_ how Edward had envisioned it. 

“Harry, be reasonable –”

“I am being reasonable... at least, I am to me. Come on Cullen, you must remember what it was like - the mood swings, the urges... I can deal with it most the time –”

“I’m assuming that right now is not counted as ‘most the time,’” Edward said dryly with as much composure as one could in that position. 

Harry laughed. “You want to know a secret?”

“What?” 

Harry leaned in closer and despite everything, Edward felt himself straining upward to hear. Harry’s face was cheek to cheek with Edward. 

“The reason why Danny’s so pissed off lately is because he’s just as horny as I am... he just can’t do anything about it,” Harry whispered, his cool breath tickling Edward’s ear and then... the tip of his tongue lightly traced the edge of Edward’s ear.

Edward shuddered and he wasn’t sure if it was in disgust or something else –

“ _What the fucking fuck is this?!!_ ” 

“Oh, thank God!!” Edward said gratefully as Harry jumped off him with vampire reflexes. Still on the ground, Edward looked up to see Dougie and Jasper standing a few feet away, Jasper looking amused and Dougie looking pissed.

“ _What the fuck were you doing to my boyfriend?!_ " Dougie screeched at Edward. 

“ _Me_?! I wasn’t doing anything!!” 

Edward suddenly realised that his shirt was still open. He quickly buttoned it back up, trying to retain what little dignity he had left. 

“You _bastard_!! Don’t you _dare_ think that you can start taking advantage of us, just because you’re all old and vampire-y!!” Dougie yelled.

Harry laughed and wrapped an arm around Dougie’s shoulders. “Come on, Doug, let’s get you home.”

The change was immediate; Dougie’s anger suddenly subsided and he threw his arms around Harry, nuzzling into his neck. As the two newborns headed back into the woods, Jasper stepped forward to give Edward a hand up, something which Edward gladly took. 

“Did you do that?” Edward asked, referring to Dougie’s abrupt change in mood.

Jasper shook his head. “Nope – nothing to do with me.”

Edward brushed the dirt off his trousers. 

“Lesson three; never trust a newborn,” he muttered.

Jasper laughed. He opened his mouth to say something but Edward already had cut him off with a firm “No.” 

“Did you –”

“No!”

“Not even –”

“ _Jasper!!_ ”

~*~*~

Dougie and Harry reached Danny and Tom first and so, as a result, by the time Edward and Jasper caught up, Dougie was fuming loudly about how he’d caught Edward pinning Harry down and tearing his clothes off. The fact that Harry’s clothes were in perfect condition and it was Edward who had leaves and bits of forest debris in his hair was something that went unnoticed by everyone.

“Keep your hands off my boyfriend!” Dougie snarled at Edward, his red eyes narrow and angry as they were getting in the car to go back to London.

Edward sighed. Even as a vampire, Dougie was still about as threatening as a puppy. 

“Shotgun!!” Harry suddenly yelled.

“He’s all yours,” Edward said flatly as he climbed in the left side. 

In the hired minivan, Jasper and Tom were already sitting in the back. Jasper peered at Edward curiously. 

“I thought you were driving?” he asked. 

Edward quickly realised his mistake and climbed over to the driver’s side. 

“Stupid English driving system,” he muttered as Harry got in the passenger’s side, whilst Dougie and Danny climbed in the back. 

_EDWARD!!_

Jasper’s alarmed thoughts yelled through Edward’s head. He turned around in the driver’s seat – Jasper was sitting next to Danny and looking completely horrified. 

_He’s in an AWFUL mood!! What did you do to him?!_

Edward scowled murderously at Jasper before turning back around in his seat and turning the ignition. The minivan roared to life. Why did everyone always assume it was his fault?

_Well, he wasn’t in such a bad mood when I took him hunting,_ Jasper thought haughtily as Edward sped down the darkened road. 

The drive home was in silence. Edward had tried to put some music on but it led to loud protests from all around the car. Apparently, no one liked Edward’s taste in music. 

“This music influenced the music you’re playing today,” Edward grumbled as he switched off the radio. “You should have some respect.”

“Can’t we put a CD on?” Tom asked.

“Driver’s choice,” Jasper explained before Edward could open his mouth. “Edward firmly believes that the driver picks the music. It was a nightmare the last time we drove to Alaska.” He pulled a face at the memory. 

“Be quiet, Jasper,” Edward snapped with a bit more venom than he’d intended. 

No one spoke for the rest of the two-hour drive home. Without music to distract him, Edward had to focus very intently on his driving in an attempt to block out the thoughts of everyone in the car. 

It wasn’t working. It never did. He was still perfectly aware of what everyone in the car was thinking.

Dougie was furious at him for ‘trying to steal his boyfriend.’ Jasper, affected by Danny, was already in a bad mood and was even more furious at Edward for putting Danny in such a foul mood in the first place. Tom was staring out the window, idly thinking of a song he’d recently written. Edward tried to focus on Tom’s thoughts but it was no use; even desperate to block out everyone else, he just couldn’t force himself to listen to McFly’s music. 

Harry was deliberately replaying the forest incident over in his mind but adding on how it could have furthered in amazingly specific detail. Currently, Harry’s skilled fingers were slowly unzipping Edward’s trousers, their shirts already discarded. Edward caught a glimpse of look of ecstasy on his imagined face before a growl of disgust rose in his throat.

“Could you please keep your thoughts to yourself?!!” he hissed, breaking the silence in the car. Everyone looked at him in surprise (Dougie was now livid that Edward was talking to Harry) except for Harry; His face was turned to the window but Edward could tell he was smirking. 

_What’s wrong? Not a fan of the forest setting? OK... how about in bedroom? We could be-_

Edward’s foot slammed down on the accelerator. The car hit 120 mph. 

He focused on Danny. Perhaps he could find out what had made the Boltoner so angry but – Nope. He was thinking back on what Dougie had said about Edward and Harry, imagining the scene in vivid detail. In Danny’s head, Edward had pinned Harry against a tree, their arms entwining their cold bodies together tightly, with Edward pressing his lips to Harry’s collarbone.

_Bastard!!_

The thought suddenly sprung through Danny’s thoughts as he pushed the image from his mind. The bitter tone and fury to it was what surprised Edward the most. Danny _hated_ him.

Suddenly, Edward Cullen found himself wanting to cry.

~*~*~

Edward was too much of a gentleman to make outright accusations. It was the way he’d been raised, both as a human and vampire. Therefore, he refused to try and protest his version of events in the forest. He had a feeling they’d fall on deaf ears anyway, as three days later and both Danny and Dougie (and as a result, Jasper as well) were still furious at him.

However, he was not above taking revenge.

Normally, Edward would hold himself aloof, considering getting revenge to be foolish and juvenile. He remembered shortly after Alice and Jasper had joined the Cullen’s, about ten years or so, Alice and Emmett had gone on a Prank War. This mainly involved setting traps for each other around the house, occasionally pulling in their significant others to help out and even getting Carlisle and Esme to join in on one instance. Edward, on the other hand, had deemed the whole thing to be very childish and refused to join in, instead turning to his piano. Every now and then, his playing would be accompanied by the shrieks of horror throughout the house. 

In this instance though...

He considered phoning Emmett for some advice and then his pride got the better of him. No, he would get back at Harry by himself. But how? The Cullen Prank War (as Emmett had dubbed it) mainly consisted of practical jokes, such as when Emmett loosened the screws in Alice’s bed so the wooden frame completely collapsed the next time she and Jasper were in it. In retaliation, Alice replaced all of Emmett’s clothes with the size up, continuing to do so for three months before he realised he was not actually shrinking. Those were harmless bits of fun, easy to brush off and get over - which was exactly what Edward didn’t want.

“You could always out him,” Jasper suggested one day when McFly were out in the garden, enjoying the sun. He was wearing his cowboy boots under his jeans again. 

“I have no idea what you’re on about,” Edward said.

Jasper gave him a long, hard look. “You’re too easy to read sometimes. If you want to declare war, why didn’t you just ask me?”

“I don’t really want to rip his head off, _General Hale_ ,” Edward replied, his crooked smile gracing his features. “Not that I wouldn’t mind doing so, except I think Tom would be quite angry at me for doing so.”

“Of all the members of the band and it’s Tom you’re afraid of?”

“Beware the mothering ones," Edward said darkly. "You’ve seen what Esme can do. Besides, outing him’s too obvious... and I highly doubt anyone would be surprised anyway.” 

Jasper was thoughtful for a few seconds. 

“The best method of attack is to go for a weak point,” he eventually said. 

“Vampire’s don’t have weak points.”

“Only physically. You need to be more creative here.”

And suddenly, Edward had a moment of revelation. Certainly, vampire’s didn’t have any physical weaknesses; it was all part of their predatory nature. And with the lack of physical weakness came the amazing beauty. The main reason Harry wanted to become a vampire was because he wanted to be more than “just” pretty.

Edward grinned. He suddenly looked much more like the monster he often envisaged himself to be.

“Jasper Hale, you're brilliant,” he said, his crooked smile growing.

~*~*~

It was a rare sunny day over North London, and as such, McFly were taking full advantage of the weather and their very secluded back garden. Danny sat on a blanket in the middle of the lawn, an acoustic guitar in his lap and pieces of paper covered in random lyrics sprawled out in front of him. Tom was lounging on a deck-chair, Wayfarers on and reading a copy of _Eclipse_ with a odd smirk on his face. Harry was lying on his back on the grass, his arms crossed underneath his head, white iPod headphones in his ears and his red eyes hidden by a pair of sunglasses. Dougie was performing a set of impossible skateboard tricks that seemed to defy gravity and, had he been human, would definitely have killed him if they’d gone wrong. Every now and then, one of the four would look up and catch sight of their sparkling, white skin that was sending patterns of rainbows throughout the garden, and dissolve into hysterical laughter that would set the others off.

It was during one of these laughing jags that Harry paid attention to Tom’s choice of reading material.

“Why do you keep re-reading those books?” he asked once the laughter had died down. “Surely you don’t need to, seeing as you’re actually a vampire.”

Tom snorted. “There’s a lot of stuff in here that’s quite useful to know.”

“Like how not to write?” Harry suggested.

Tom looked over the top of his sunglasses at the drummer. “Mock all you like, you never even finished the first book.” 

“I doubt I missed much,” Harry laughed, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know,” Tom said, scratching the back of his head. “It’s not so much about being a vampire as it is about knowing some more about Edward and Jasper.”

Danny had been leaning over his guitar to write something down. At the mention of Edward’s name, he momentarily froze and then continued to write slowly, his eyes never looking up. 

“It’s all fiction though. The whole thing was just wish fulfilment on Meyer’s part,” Harry said dismissively. 

“Yes and no,” Tom said. “I spoke to Jasper about it. Meyer got to know the Cullen’s quite well in the two years that she knew them. She got their personalities and traits down quite accurately in this, and also used stories they’d told her about their pasts in Twilight.”

Harry rolled his eyes again. “So what? Yippie, you know how Edward died and that Emma’s very mothering.”

“It’s Esme, and it’s more than that!” Tom sounded irritated. 

“Whatever,” Harry said, putting his iPod headphones back in his ears.

Danny, however, was interested. 

“How’s it more?” he asked.

Tom shrugged. “Well, like in _Eclipse_ , the whole of that book is about the love triangle between Edward, Bella and Jacob. What Jasper told me is that Edward’s behaviour and what he did to Jacob actually did happen, only it was in the 1960’s and between Edward, a werewolf and a witch.” He paused. “Turned out she’d put them under a love-spell to make them fight over her. Once they found out –”

He stopped, suddenly aware that Harry was listening intently again. Even Dougie had stopped jumping around to pay attention. 

“What?” Danny asked. “What did they do?”

Tom shook his head. “The werewolf was happy to let it go, humiliated enough as it was. But as for Edward... put it this way; what Edward did to her makes the birthing sequence in _Breaking Dawn_ look like a happy trip to the park.”

Very noticeably, Harry gulped. 

“You shouldn’t have pulled that stunt in the forest, Harry,” Tom said with a nasty chuckle. 

“Me?! I did nothing wrong!!”

“Yeah!” Dougie chimed in. “Edward was the one who came onto him, I saw it all! He -”

“Oh, shut up Dougie!” Tom snapped. “I think we all know Harry well enough to guess what really happened!”

There was an uncomfortable silence. In the background, the wind was blowing through the trees. 

“I wouldn’t like to be you right now,” Tom said with a terrifying grin on his face. Tom had never been particularly threatening in his human life, so to see him look actually dangerous made him all the more frightening. “Edward doesn’t fight fair. He completely _destroys_ Jacob in Eclipse without even trying.” 

“But we can’t die-”

“Exactly. Edward’s quite crafty; he finds ways to make sure what he does lasts.” 

It had to be a trick of the light but Tom could have sworn that underneath the sparkles, Harry looked even paler than usual. Meanwhile, Danny was staring back at the scraps of paper before him, biting his lip and frowning, lost deep in his thoughts. 

As if on cue, Jasper suddenly came outside from the kitchen. 

“Howdy,” he said, tipping an imaginary hat to the British band. “Edward’s gone out to get some chains –”

“Chains?!” Harry shrieked.

“- for the next part of your lessons,” Jasper continued, giving Harry a weird look. “He wants to teach you how to learn and control your strength. We’re meeting him at the Apollo.” 

“Hey Jasper,” Dougie said, looking worriedly over at Harry, “Tom was just telling us that Edward’s apparently really badass. True or false?”

Jasper laughed, his eyes flickering over to Tom’s copy of _Eclipse_. 

“That witch was never the same again,” he said with a smirk that mirrored Tom’s. “Harry, why are you feeling so tense?”

~*~*~

For the trip to the Apollo, the group were divided into two. Tom had a bet with Harry that even with Tom driving his clapped out old Mini and Harry driving his Ford, Tom would still beat the drummer to the Apollo. Jasper went with Dougie and Harry; he had taken Dougie’s question to mean that Dougie wanted to know everything about all Edward’s previous fights and was only halfway through detailing about how Edward had had a rather large hand in the downfall of Al Capone.

For some strange reason, Harry was being uncharacteristically silent. 

Danny and Tom drove along the familiar London roads in companionable quiet. One of the many things that Tom liked about Danny was that he never felt the need to fill silence with pointless, inane chatter. 

“Tom,” Danny said slowly after ten minutes. “Do you – I mean- did Harry – would Edward –”

“Do I believe Harry’s version of events about the forest incident?” Tom asked, cutting through Danny’s stuttering. 

“Yeah. That.”

Tom burst out laughing. “What do you think?!”

“I – I don’t know.”

“Danny, put it this way - since when has Harry been the submissive kind?” 

“I guess...”

“And since when has Harry said anything about him being the ‘victim’ that hasn’t been either a total fabrication or over-exaggeration?” 

“Fair play...”

“And since when do you care anyway?!”

“Mate, there’s a speed camera coming u!” 

“I see it, but seeing as I drive like a Fletcher and not a Cullen, I’ve no need to worry. And don’t change the subject!”

“I’m not! I was just...” Danny looked at his feet. “I just wondered what you thought.”

Not taking his hands off the steering wheel, Tom turned and looked at Danny curiously. 

“Do you like Edward?” 

“No,” Danny said, far too quickly. 

Tom smirked. “It’s not a bad thing if you do.”

“It’s not a thing at all! And I don’t!” 

“Methinks thou dost protest too much!”

“ _Shut up, Tom!!_ ” Danny yelled, punching the window. His fist went straight through the glass, spraying little chunks of glass over him. “Fuck!!” 

He buried his face in his hands. Tom continued to drive, all teasing gone.

“You’re paying for that,” he said eventually. 

“I know, I know,” Danny moaned, not looking up from his hands. 

“Danny, mate, you’ve really got to get hold of your temper.”

Danny said nothing. 

“It’s no big deal for now and all but you’ve really got to learn to control your reactions.”

“Do you want me to rip your head off too?!”

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about! You get far too touchy about these things!”

“Leave me alone,” Danny mumbled. 

“Fine, fine, but seriously, does it matter if you fancy Edward or not?”

“I don’t -”

“-Fancy Edward, I know. Whatever." He paused and then added softly "Look, everything’s gone to pot right now, so what’s wrong if you find a guy you like?” 

Danny chewed on his thumb nail. 

“He wouldn’t like me anyway,” he said eventually. 

“And what makes you so sure of that?” Tom asked. When Danny was about to protest, Tom cut him off again. “Look, you’re a lot calmer around him. Take that as a good sign and go from there. If he doesn’t like you back, what have you lost? We’re never going to die. You’ve got all of eternity to find someone.” 

Danny looked out the broken window. The wind whistled past, ruffling his hair and the sunlight glinted off his skin and bit of shattered glass until it was hard to tell what was skin and what was glass.

~*~*~

Edward’s lesson for the day, as promised by Jasper, involved chains. He was standing outside the Hammersmith Apollo in the shade of the overhanging roof, holding them gently as if they were made of straw. He smiled when he saw Danny and Tom’s car pull into the nearby empty car-park, the light reflecting off his teeth. There were some City of London workers fixing the pavement nearby, drilling loudly and mixing cement, who Edward had been casually observing; One of them was cheating on his wife with another of the workers 16 year-old daughter.

“No Jasper?” he asked as the two newborns walked towards him, hiding from the sun’s rays by massive hoods. 

“He went with Dougie and Harry,” Tom said. 

“He will be sorry,” Edward mused. “He never liked losing.”

“I think the look on Harry’s face will make up for that,” Tom grinned, watching Harry’s Ford pull into the car-park. As the doors opened, they could hear Jasper talking excitedly. 

“... and then Edward literally pinned the bear down and tore its head off!” Jasper was saying.

Dougie and Harry climbed out the car. Harry looked like a trauma victim. As soon as Dougie saw Edward, he slammed the car door shut with so much violence that the window in it cracked. Edward was mildly surprised by the angry tone of Dougie’s thoughts towards him. It was almost as if he thought Edward was going to kill Harry.

_And all because Harry turned him down!! I swear, if he tries anything, I’ll tear him apart..._

Edward blinked, slightly taken aback. What on earth had Jasper been saying to them?! 

As if he knew what his brother was wondering, Jasper winked at Edward. 

“Well, glad we’re all here in one piece,” Edward said cheerfully once Jasper, Dougie and Harry had joined them (though Harry was standing behind Dougie, almost as if he was hiding from Edward). “Well... more or less. What happened to your car, Tom?”

Everyone looked back to Tom’s car, the shattered passenger window in full view. Danny stuffed his hands deep into the pocket of his hoodie and stared at the passing traffic. 

“Not much,” Tom shrugged. “Some chav threw a brick at us.”

Edward skimmed through Tom’s thoughts but the guitarist was already thinking of a new guitar riff he’d been composing on the journey over. Danny wasn’t much use either. All Edward could see when he looked into Danny’s thoughts were flickering images; a window smashing and the sun setting...

Edward sighed. “Well, we might as well go in. Here, Harry -” Harry jumped about a foot into the air when Edward addressed him. “- would you help me carry the chains?”

“Y-yeah. Sure,” Harry stammered, cautiously taking steps towards Edward as the others went inside the building. He held out his arms timidly, looking at the giant chains as if Edward was holding a snake out to him. 

Edward kept his face neutral as he watched the drummer practically run inside after his friends, the chains clinking as he ran. Really, what had Jasper told the boy to fill him with such fear?

~*~*~

Edward felt like he was giving a lecture.

“Your strength is one of your biggest assets... and also your biggest weakness.”

Admittedly, in all his eighty years of high school and university, Edward had never once experienced a lecture where the lecturer was holding sets of chains and was going to wrap his students in them, but hey, there was a first time for everything. 

“What I’m going to try and teach you today is how to control it and also demonstrate how it can be used against you. Now, as newborns, you’re considerably stronger than the average mature vampire. However, your strength will fade; not completely, but in about year, you won't be as overtly strong as you are today.”

They were all on the main stage of the Hammersmith Apollo again, Edward standing whilst everyone else sat around him. The instruments also remained on the stage, though untouched this time. Tom had jokingly set up a spotlight for Edward to stand in. 

“So, I need one of you to help me prove a point – Tom?”

Tom stood up and eagerly walked over to Edward. 

“OK, I’m going to wrap these chains around you. What you have to do is get out of them, without breaking or misshaping them.” 

Even Harry, terrified of Edward, managed to snort at how seemingly easy this task seemed. 

“Laugh all you want, Judd,” Edward said, pointing a finger at him and causing Harry to shrink back several inches, “You won’t be laughing when this is over.”

Harry’s red eyes widened and he gulped. 

Edward set to work, wrapping the chains around Tom’s body tightly. Any human would have collapsed under the weight of the chains alone, and Edward was binding them tight enough to suffocate an elephant. None the less, to Tom the chains felt feather-light as if it were only strands of string draped around him. 

Edward tightened the chains and locked them together with a padlock. The final effect was that Tom now looked like a Houdini-wannabe. 

“Alright Tom, like I said, you need to get out of these chains without breaking them. It can be done, I’m not just being cruel and setting an impossible task,” Edward added, stepping back. “OK... and go.”

Tom nodded, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He took a deep breath and shifted his shoulders -

There was a clanking sound and suddenly the chains were crashing to Tom’s feet, the links in several of them completely snapped. 

Tom stared at the remains of the chains in dismay. 

“I... I wasn’t even trying.”

“Exactly,” Edward said as Jasper nodded in the background. “Even when you’re no longer newborns, your strength will still be immense. Simply forgetting around humans could result in disastrous consequences. Someone could get hurt, someone could realise what you are, someone could get killed. Therefore, lesson four; you may pretend to be human, but never forget that you’re not.”

There was a silence as McFly digested this new lesson. 

Edward clapped his hands together. “Alright, pair up! Try binding your partner and seeing if they can get out of the chains. Jasper, you’re with Tom, Dougie, you’re with Danny and Harry’s with – _AHH!!_ ”

Several things happened at once. As soon as Harry realised he was with Edward, he’d screamed like a little girl. For Dougie, on the other hand, it seemed like all his suspicions were being confirmed. Edward had time to hear him furiously think _“I KNEW that bastard was after Harry!”_ before he felt something crash down over the back of his skull; Dougie had moved with vampire speed and smashed his bass over Edward’s head. The impact had actually managed to make Edward stumble slightly. Of course, it hadn't hurt but it still took him by surprise. 

“Fine!!” Edward said, shaking bits of wood out his hair. “I’ll go with Danny, Dougie goes with Harry!!” 

With a proud smirk, Dougie walked over to Harry and helped him up. Edward rolled his eyes and turned to Danny, who smiled at him.

“Stuck with the worst one,” Danny said, attempted to be light-hearted and sounding more like he was auditioning for King Lear. Jasper had already led Tom off the stage, standing in the audience pit as he refastened the chains around Tom’s body. They were chatting casually and laughing. 

“They’ve made quite good friends,” Edward remarked. “And in reference to your comment, hardly! I can think of two worse people to be with- speaking of which, where the hell have they gone?!”

Dougie and Harry had taken full advantage of being paired together and had run off backstage somewhere. 

“Oh, forget it. Less trouble to contend with,” Edward muttered, scooping up a set of chains. 

Danny smiled again. Edward listened into his thoughts but all he could see was his own face as Danny looked at him. How infuriating. It didn’t explain the smile. 

Edward took a step towards Danny, holding the chains out. 

“OK,” he said. Suddenly, he felt very nervous and he wasn’t too sure why.

He started to wrap the chains around Danny’s body, binding him. Danny lifted his chin slightly and continued to watch him, saying nothing but continuing to smile. Edward’s hand accidentally brushed against Danny’s shoulder as he walked behind the Boltoner to secure the chains; it was like a jolt of electricity passing through him. Danny sighed and slowly turned his head to the side as he looked down, revealing his neck to Edward.

Edward wasn’t sure why he was doing this. This hadn’t happened with Tom, why was it happening now? And yet, despite his confusion, Edward found himself acting almost without thinking. He was suddenly so close to Danny, his face barely inches from the newborn’s neck. He was certain Danny could feel his cold breath on his skin and from the way Danny’s eyes were closed, he could tell Danny liked it. Edward allowed his hands to trace the shapes of the chains that held Danny’s hands to his body, crossed over his chest like a corpse. Danny tilted his head back so it rested on Edward’s shoulder, his eyes still shut. Edward’s own eyes were half-closed as he lightly pressed his face into Danny’s hair, breathing in deeply; the unmistakable scent of a newborn’s blood was there... but masked by the smell of coffee and cigarettes. Tom and Jasper were forgotten in the background, all the thoughts that usual buzzed around Edward’s mind were hushed; the only thing Edward could hear was the sound of Danny breathing, deep and evenly. 

Edward’s head was spinning, filled with Danny’s scent. He felt oddly disconnected from his body. Biological urges and feelings should have been impossible on someone who was long dead, and yet...

Edward’s lips brushed against Danny’s neck. 

“Fuck it.”

The words rumbled from Danny’s throat but before Edward had a chance to react, there was the sound of splintering metal and the chains crashing to the stage heavily, and then Danny had spun around, his hands on either side of Edward’s face and pulling him in. Suddenly, Danny was kissing Edward, his lips moving hungrily against the older vampire’s. Edward’s hands were already moving around Danny’s body, one on his hip and the other on Danny’s back, holding him against Edward in an iron vice. Danny’s teeth bit down on Edward’s lip, his hands tangled in the older vampire’s hair as he pushed Edward back against a wall; somehow, they were suddenly no longer on the stage but hiding in the darkness of the wings. Edward’s entire body was responding to the slightest of Danny’s touch and there was a tearing noise as Edward tore the sleeve of Danny’s shirt –

“Well, well! What do we have here?!”

Danny disengaged himself from Edward’s lips long enough to mutter something that sounded Anglo Saxon in origin as Edward glared at whoever the annoying interrupter was. Whoever they were, they were going to _die_...

Ah, of course. It would be Harry, wouldn’t it?

“About time,” he remarked, sounding very smug as he folded his arms.

Edward smirked, his hands resting on Danny’s shoulder. He leaned forward and whispered something unintelligible in the guitarist’s ear.

“Harry!!!” Tom yelled from the audience pit, “I told you NOT to interrupt them!!” 

Harry looked back to where Tom was yelling and then back to Edward and Danny, but they’d vanished. The only clue to where they might have gone was a nearby door swinging closed.

~*~*~

Later that day, once Danny and Edward had reappeared with their hair messed up and their eyes bright and alert, Jasper decided to give the final lesson. Dougie and Harry were fooling about, Dougie pretending to read Harry’s palm. Tom had joined in, saying that he foresaw immobility in Harry’s future. Danny was sitting with his back against Edward’s chest. He looked happier and more relaxed than anyone had seen him for a while.

“You’re going to try and stay in close proximity to the human world,” Jasper explained. “That’s fair enough, but you know it can’t last. You’ll only be able to feasibly stay as a band for five more years maximum and after that, you’ll need to disappear. Once people have forgotten your band, you’ll be able to move around freely again and you can do what you want.”

Tom had his hand up. Jasper was slightly thrown by this. 

“You don’t need to put your hand up if you’ve got a question, Tom.”

“Oh... ok... well, I was just wondering, what about our families?”

Danny, Dougie and Harry all looked at Jasper immediately. This was something that had been concerning them.

“What about them?” Jasper asked.

“Well... what do we do about them? We can’t just abandon them.” 

“You can’t stay with them either. How could they possibly understand what’s happened?” Edward pointed out.

Tom suddenly looked sheepish. 

“Tom... what did you do?” Jasper asked slowly. 

“Well... my family already... kinda... know.” 

There was a silence as this sunk in. 

"You _told_ them!?” Jasper asked incredulously. 

“I didn’t mean to!” Tom stammered. “It just kinda happened!”

“‘Just kinda happened,’” Edward echoed. Danny had wrapped his hands around Edward’s arm, firmly holding him in place. “What do you mean?!”

“Well, a few days before we went to Forks, I visited home to tell my family I was off on a trip – I was hoping I could keep delaying the time I had to return to them again, generally phasing me out their lives all together,” Tom said quickly, looking nervously at Jasper and Edward. “But I’d forgotten that my Mum, Dad and sister had all read _Twilight_ and loved it.”

He paused. “Well, you can guess what happened. They took one look at me, and even though it was overcast and I was wearing sunglasses, they figured out what had happened.”

“Don’t tell me you changed them too,” Edward said. 

“Oh no, nothing like that!! They’re all quite happy being human... but they’re also OK with me being... well, this. They also promised that they wouldn’t tell anyone -” 

“Can you trust them?” Jasper asked swiftly.

“Of course!!” Tom snapped, offended. “They’re my family!!”

Jasper looked at Edward. 

_Why can’t these people do ANYTHING conventionally?!_ he thought, sounding exasperated. 

Edward shook his head in disbelief. “OK, so that’s the Fletcher’s sorted – what about the rest of you? I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell everyone -”

“Not a problem for me,” Harry said. “I’m not exactly close to my family. I can keep the visits down to minimum of Christmas and birthdays, and phones calls in between.”

“Mine probably won’t notice anything different,” Dougie shrugged. “They think I’m a bit weird anyway. I’ve never known why...”

Edward gave Danny a gentle nudge. He quite liked the feeling of holding Danny close to him. “What about you, Danny? What are you going to do about yours?”

Danny looked at his feet. His thoughts were concentrated on his mum and sister. 

“I... I dunno,” he mumbled. “I don’t want to give them up... and I don’t want to cut down how often I see them... but I really don’t want to tell them about this either. I... I don’t want them to know that I was stupid enough to get myself killed because I didn't get the concept of 'forever'.” 

Edward kissed Danny’s ear reassuringly. “It’ll be easier in a couple of years, eventually everyone you know is dead.” 

“Anyway,” Jasper said, “if you haven’t seen your family since you changed, it’ll be amazingly easy to forget them in this life. I don’t remember much about my life as a human. The friends I had as a human are only faces I can dimly recall. When I became a vampire, I threw myself into my new life so thoroughly and never looked back.”

“But I don’t want to forget them," Danny cried, twisting out of Edward's grip so he could face both older vampires. "My sister’s called Vicky, my Mum’s called Cathy and my Dad – God rot him! – is called Alan! I can’t just give them up that easily! And I’m never going to die – I don’t want to spend the rest of my life regretting that I didn’t spend the time I could with them!”

“You don’t have to,” Tom said fiercely. “We’ll find a way around this. There’s always a way around this.”

Jasper looked doubtful. 

_He’ll probably end up killing them,_ he thought, staring pointedly at Danny. _And then he’ll spend the rest of eternity hating himself for it._

But Edward couldn’t ignore Tom’s optimism, and he couldn't bare the thought of Danny being unhappy... or worse, resenting him for not letting him try. Tom was right. There _had_ to be a way around it. 

“We... Maybe we could find a way to warn your family for any changes. Or we could just work on building up Danny’s resistance to human blood until he’s safe to be around them; instead of easing his presence away from them, he could build it up,” Tom said slowly, looking at his band mates for reassurance. “Let them slowly adjust to the changes but not really offer any explanation because by the time they definitely notice, they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint when the change initially was.”

“Not bad,” Edward mused. “That could actually work.”

Jasper still didn’t look convinced.

“Anyway, this is all in the future; You could get Alice to look into things properly when you go back to Forks,” Harry added. “First, we’ve got to work on us getting used to animal blood... and also, our eyes haven’t gone gold yet. We can’t really go anywhere near humans for extended periods of time until that change has happened, which... wouldn’t it be about a year?” 

“So you’d take a year, building up your strength and then gradually let your family get used to you?” Jasper asked. 

Harry nodded.

“Simple but it could work," Edward said. He took Danny’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry Dan. We’ll find a way.”

There was a small pause as Danny looked around the group. 

“Lesson five,” Tom said with an ironic smile. “There’s always a better way to do things.”

~*~*~

The sun was setting when McFly left the Hammersmith Apollo but the sky wasn’t dark yet. The construction workers had gone home but they’d left the equipment behind, including the pneumatic drill and cement mixer and Edward could only hope that someone would be coming to collect it later. Tom and Jasper led the group out, talking excitedly about the merits of acoustic guitars. Danny and Edward followed behind them.

“Twilight,” Edward murmured, looking up at the clouds. 

He was still holding Danny’s hand tightly.

“So... what are you going to do when you go back to Forks?” Danny asked. There was no mistaking the sadness in his voice.

“When I go back to Forks?” Edward seemed surprised. “Well, it would only be for a week at most, just to see my family – didn’t I tell you? I’m moving to England.”

Danny’s red eyes widened almost comically. “Really? Why?!”

Edward shrugged casually. “Well, there’s this band I know who live there... the music’s _awful_ but the lead guitarist’s quite cute.”

Danny's mouth fell open. 

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Isn't this all a bit rushed?"

Edward shrugged. "We vampire's mate for life. You don't know how long I've waited for you, Danny Jones. I'll be here for as long as you want me."

Danny’s face broke into a giant beaming smile, and he threw his arms around Edward, kissing him. 

Dougie and Harry walked past them and Dougie made a noise of disgust.

“Uhrg, get a room!!”

Edward and Danny pulled apart. Edward licked his lips thoughtfully. 

“Now there’s an idea,” he said. “Oh, and Harry –”

Harry flinched as Edward spoke to him. 

“I believe you and I have a score to settle at some point,” Edward said, his words heavy with implied meaning.

“ _I'm sorry!!_ ” Harry suddenly screamed. “Please don’t kill me or tear me into pieces and scatter them around the world so I can never put myself back together! I’m so sorry, I’ll admit everything! Dougie, it was me who came onto Edward in the forest, OK?!”

Edward blinked in surprise.

“Harry, where on _earth_ would you get such frightful ideas about me?!” he asked in surprise. “Come on, we’re going to have to get on if we’re going to be friends for eternity!”

He wrapped an arm around Harry’s shoulder’s in a friendly gesture.

Harry gave a nervous laugh. 

“So... you’re not going to kill me?” he asked.

“Of course not!! Where would the logic be in doing that?” 

“Hahahaa... I guess you’re right...”

The two vampires started to walk towards the cars, their mate’s following behind them. It was a picture of perfect friendship –

Until Edward casually backhanded Harry into the cement mixer. 

As Dougie screamed, trying to pull Harry out before the cement around him solidified, and Jasper and Tom roared with laughter, Edward turned to Danny with a smirk.

“Lesson six; _never_ think it’s over,” he said, wrapping his arms around Danny, pulling him in for another kiss.

“Never?” Danny asked, with a grin.

“Never.”


End file.
